1. Field of the Invention
A communications system and method that uses a plurality of PCs and PDA/cell phones for the coordination of two or more people through the use of a communications network. The system and method provide each user with a PC or PDA/cell phone that has forced message alert software that enables a user to create and send a voice or text message alert that forces an automatic acknowledgement upon receipt and a manual response from the recipient.
2. Description of Related Art
The purpose of a communications system is to transmit information bearing digital messages from a source, located at one point, to a user destination, located at another point some distance away. A communications system is generally comprised of three basic elements: transmitter, information channel and receiver. One form of communication in recent years is cellular phone telephony. A network of cellular communication systems set up around an area such as the United States allows multiple users to talk to each other, either on individual calls or on group calls, with handheld devices. Some cellular phone services enable a cellular phone to engage in conference calls with a small number of users. Furthermore, cellular conference calls can be established through 800 number services. Cellular telephony also now includes the ability to access local WiFi connections, allowing the devices to utilize cellular phone data transmission technology as well as the data transmission ability of the Internet.
The method and operation of the integrated PDA/cell phones (cell phone/PDA/GPS with touch screen) used herein is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,728, which is hereby incorporated by reference, pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/308,648, and pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/612,830, and are usually discussed herein as a cell phone.
In many situations it is desirable for a user to be able to simultaneously send a message to the cell phones or PCs of a large group of people. This can be typically accomplished using Digital SMS (Smart Message Service) and TCP/IP messages that are transmitted using cellular technology such as the various versions of GSM and CDMA or via a WiFi local area network. However, in some situations it is additionally desirable to know: (a) which people received the message on their cell phone or PC, (b) which people did not receive the message on their cell phone or PC, and (c) the response of each person receiving the message. Digital SMS and TCP/IP messages do not provide each of those functions. As a result, what is needed is a method in which a sender of a text or voice message can force an automatic acknowledgement upon receipt from a recipient's cell phone or PC and a manual response from the recipient via the recipient's cell phone or PC when sending the text or voice message.